Lili downgraded to tropical depression

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) --The latest tropical storm threatening Caribbean islands was downgraded to a tropical depression Thursday, but forecasters warned that Lili could redevelop in the next few days.

A U.S. Air Force Reserve unit reconnaissance plane determined that Lili was not strong or organized enough to remain classified as a tropical storm. Observers on the plane were unable to find a defined center, forecasters said.

At 11 a.m. EDT, remnants of Lili's center were about 280 miles southwest of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, with heavy rain and thunderstorms extending for hundreds of miles to the northeast and east. The remnants were headed west-northwest at 12 mph.

All tropical storm watches for Lili were discontinued, but the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Jamaica and Haiti should monitor the storm because there is a "good possibility Lili could redevelop into a tropical storm."

With sustained winds of 35 mph, Lili carried heavy rain that posed a threat to Haiti's southern shores and Jamaica.

Meanwhile, the Atlantic season's third hurricane churned in mid-ocean, far from land. Hurricane Kyle was 480 miles east-southeast of Bermuda at 10 a.m. EDT, heading west-southwest at 9 mph.

But forecasters said they expect Kyle, carrying 85 mph sustained winds, to slow its forward movement over the next 24 hours with little change in strength.

A third storm, Isidore, slammed into Louisiana early Thursday, bringing high winds and a deluge of rain that flooded New Orleans and the surrounding region and forced Interstate 10 to close. Hurricane Isidore hit Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula last weekend, killing three people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. (Full story)